Rise of Hitler
Assess the role of each of the following in the rise to power of Hitler: ideological appeal; underestimation by opponents; propaganda.
The historical debate surrounding the causal factors of the rise of the Nazi state in Germany by 1933 is fierce. Marxist historians, emphasising the idea that Nazism was no more than capitalism's most extreme form, tend to view Hitler as a puppet of big business. Others, including renowned scholars such as AJP Taylor stress the idea that Hitler and the Nazi's were a product of unique German history and a 'German struggle for mastery over Europe'. Amongst all of this debate, one thing is agreed upon and that is the fact that without the great depression stemming from the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the dire consequences that the withdrawal of American loans had on the German economy, Hitler would have remained on the sidelines of German politics. It was the circumstances of early 1930's Germany, as emphasised by historian Karl Bracher, that ultimately brought Hitler to power. Thus it is impossible to understand or assess the significance of the Nazi's ideological appeal, the fatal underestimation of the Nazi's by both the conservatives and the left and their use of propaganda whilst coming to power without understanding this context and it is thus the express intention of this essay to contextualise these factors in order to demonstrate the limitations of their significance. Further, this essay will also attempt to highlight the inextricable links between these above stated factors and select other factors which are given as having helped the Nazi's come to power, namely the brutality of the SA; Hitlers personality and the unique position of Germany in European history, with a view to unearthing the most significant amongst them.
Hitler's ideas and thus the ideology of the Nazi party, as described by historian Martin Blinkhorn, brought together 'pre-war Pan-Germanism, virulent anti-semitism, biological racism, crude social
The historical debate surrounding the causal factors of the rise of the Nazi state in Germany by 1933 is fierce. Marxist historians, emphasising the idea that Nazism was no more than capitalism's most extreme form, tend to view Hitler as a puppet of big business. Others, including renowned scholars such as AJP Taylor stress the idea that Hitler and the Nazi's were a product of unique German history and a 'German struggle for mastery over Europe'. Amongst all of this debate, one thing is agreed upon and that is the fact that without the great depression stemming from the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the dire consequences that the withdrawal of American loans had on the German economy, Hitler would have remained on the sidelines of German politics. It was the circumstances of early 1930's Germany, as emphasised by historian Karl Bracher, that ultimately brought Hitler to power. Thus it is impossible to understand or assess the significance of the Nazi's ideological appeal, the fatal underestimation of the Nazi's by both the conservatives and the left and their use of propaganda whilst coming to power without understanding this context and it is thus the express intention of this essay to contextualise these factors in order to demonstrate the limitations of their significance. Further, this essay will also attempt to highlight the inextricable links between these above stated factors and select other factors which are given as having helped the Nazi's come to power, namely the brutality of the SA; Hitlers personality and the unique position of Germany in European history, with a view to unearthing the most significant amongst them.
Hitler's ideas and thus the ideology of the Nazi party, as described by historian Martin Blinkhorn, brought together 'pre-war Pan-Germanism, virulent anti-semitism, biological racism, crude social